


Let's meet at the Lighthouse

by kafluna



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, It starts as a pre-season 4 story when Shiro is still missing and then it moves on, Langst, M/M, Slow Burn, but no really it gets better, klangst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-24 22:58:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13821252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kafluna/pseuds/kafluna
Summary: In which Keith stumbles upon a crying Lance and has no idea what to do, he wants to help him but feels really insecure about his capacity to connect with the other paladins and to lead Voltron.Lance is feeling down but he tries to hide it from others even though he knows that crying by himself isn’t going to solve anything.How long  will it take these two  to understand each other and find the comfort and trust they need to go on?EDIT: Im definitely going to finish this but im just thinking if i should add some off the info of S7 or if i should just go with what i planned on first place





	Let's meet at the Lighthouse

There was no specific rule that made it an obligation for the entire team to meet every day for dinner and eat together, but even if it wasn’t written on stone it was something that eventually became some sort of an implicit rule for them. After a mission or after a training session everyone had a space of free time in which they could dedicate themselves to do whatever they wanted but as soon as the lights of the ship began to lose their intensity it was time to meet at the Castle dining room and spend some time with each other.

As Keith remembered it all started because of Shiro. 

In space there was no way of telling the passing of time since there wasn’t even a concept of “day” as there existed on earth, so the paladins had to establish a routine around the ship's lighting cycles in order to regulate their new lifestyle. Fortunately, they had found out through Coran and Allura that the Altean´s had a life rhythm very similar to that of humans, and their times of sleep and activity had barely changed compared to when they lived in the Garrison. But even under these favorable circumstances it was still too uncomfortable for them to suddenly accept this new “normalcy” they were forced to adapt to since they could no longer return to earth. Needless to say the first months in their new home were hard, even with their previous practice on simulators living out in space was completely different, it felt void and not just because they were literally surrounded by space but because it was all to lonely. 

And then to make their situation even worse they were told that in order to pilot Voltron it was necessary to first establish a strong bond of trust between them, but they had just barely knew each other before all the space-lions thing happened, Hunk and Lance were best friends, Pidge was also their friend thought he seemed to be hiding something, Shiro has been MIA for a long time before they even meet him apart from Keith whom he seemed to know, but that was it, and it was definitely not enough for them to form Voltron, they needed to develop a deeper friendship and to spend as much time with each other as they could. 

On those first days when everyone was still too confused with the way their life had changed, days when both their future and the walls of the castle were completely foreign spaces for them, Shiro had sought them one by one and invited them to go down to eat with others. He started suggesting that they meet every "night" to eat together and spend some time in the common room, It is not as if he had forced any of them to do it, he only invited them and they ended up giving in because how could anyone say no to someone like Shiro. In addition, none of them knew how long they would be in space or how much they would have to live in the castle, with no one else to interact with it was necessary that there was at least some degree of communication between them to shake the awkwardness of their situation. 

Since then many things have happened, enemies were made, battles were both won and lost and they were no longer strangers but a team who bonded and cared deeply for each other pretty much like a family would, and it was all thanks to their hard work and acceptance with one another but It was thanks specially to Shiro and his efforts to tie them together since the beginning of it all. 

But that was a long time ago and now the black paladin was nowhere to be found, Keith and the others had been desperately searching for him in what could be the whole universe and there weren’t any traces of him and his whereabouts, only an empty space in the ship and his closed room were proof that Takashi Shirogane had existed among them. 

Allura said it was time to move on. 

Since then Keith had assumed against his will the position of Voltron new leader and black paladin. And even if he was beginning to get used to leading the other paladins during the missions, as soon as he stepped out of the lion it was only him, he wasn’t a leader and he definitely was not Shiro.

Keith could not replace him, he was not used to talking to others the way he did, it was usually the older male who dragged him to interact with his companions and not him who took the initiative to do so.  
After that it was not uncommon for the paladins to absent themselves to dinner at times, sometimes Pidge spent too much time searching on the files of some sentry they took down looking for any clues that could lead them to her brother and skipped dinner, other times it was Hunk who stayed too much time in his room when he got too distracted talking to Shay on the communicator and telling her all about their missions on other planets, Keith occasionally preferred to stay and practice in the simulator for several hours, but every time he did he felt a sting of guilt for being a coward and avoiding the others on purpose. 

Unusually this time it was Lance who was missing from the table, the space next to Hunk was empty in contrast to the full plate of food that gleamed in its place. Any other day it would not have been important for someone to be skipping dinner, but this was a special occasion, they were not going to eat the green goo that their poor palate had become used to, the menu of the day was less green and viscous, it had a variety of vegetables (or animals, at this point it was difficult to distinguish them since they had so many appendages that looked like legs but were all covered in leafs at the same time) that they had given as thanks on the last planet they had released and that Hunk had spent days finding out how to cook.  
It was strange for Lance to miss the opportunity to eat something his friend had prepared so long in advance, but no one seemed to mention anything about it. Keith waited for him to appear with his eyes fixed on the wall on one of the devices that calculated the amount of dobosh and ticks that passed. He still could understand their equivalence on human measures of time but he finally decided that it had been way too long and began to get up from the table and go towards the door without having touched his food.

“Sorry , I’m not really hungry I’ll just take a quick walk instead“ he said as to excuse himself from the table without raising any suspicion. It wasn’t the first time he missed dinner this way so it was probably ok, or at least he thought it would be. 

“Lance was helping me all afternoon to clean up the healing pods and the medical bay, surely he stayed to rest a bit in the western part of the castle, he could still be in the infirmary or maybe in one of the surrounding rooms” Coran informed while serving a little more of the strange concoction on his plate.

Keith turned to see him a little embarrassed but Coran's attention was now on Allura who was asking Pidge about human classification plants and animals on earth and whether it was possible for plants to walk or move like They did in Altea.  
“if you cannot find him on time don’t worry, I'll make sure to save a big portion for you and Lance- Hunk exclaimed, looking at him with a kind smile from ear to ear, mouth full of food.

“I never said that I was going to look for him” he shouted in embarrassment on his way out to the hallway, hoping that the rest of his companions were too entertained with the feast to pay attention to his sudden interest in Lance´s absence.  
Besides, it's not like he did have any interest in finding Lance, right? He did it because it was his obligation and ... because it is what Shiro would have done in his place if he was still around. He would have wanted all of them to eat together after a successful mission. 

Trying to avoid troublesome thoughts he went to where Coran had pointed out that the other boy might be but could not find him anywhere, one after another he inspected the rooms without any success. Probably the other paladin had already met with the others and was cheerfully enjoying his meal while Keith wasted his time looking for him, typical of Lance.  
One of the last places to search was an old abandoned room with a large window and a control panel, Allura had explained to them that previously that room served as an alternate control center for the ship but due to their current lack of personnel and to the amount of time that the room had remained abandoned it was no longer operative, it was so far from the other sections that they did not even us it as a warehouse and the only appeal of the room was a large window through which the light of the stars filtered.

When he approached the room he found it closed, which was not unusual considering that it was one of the oldest parts of the ship, what was strange is that it was also blocked with a password. The security mechanisms used in the older parts of the castle were more similar to human technology compared to the most advanced parts of the castle, this place security in particular was even very similar to those they used in Garrison, so without needing to call Pidge, Keith could easily hack the combination of the door and access the room.

Once inside, he suddenly found himself in the dark, the place was barely illuminated by a few panels attached at the ends and most of the light came through the window, which was not much.  
As soon as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he stepped from the doorway to look for his companion. The door slid silently behind him as he moved and examined the room, a pile of desks and panels were piled at both ends in a half-moon shape leaving an empty space right in the center, where a bulge was now, there was Lance, lying with his back on the ground, one of his arms rested on his chest on his shirt and the other stretched to cover his face. It was unbelievable that Lance was quietly asleep while the others were waiting for him.

This fucking brat. He was seriously going to kill him. 

Keith began to move fast in his direction and had already started to take a deep breath in order to yell at him until he woke up, but as soon as the other boy entered his field of vision he decided to remain silent, he even bit the inside of his cheek and held his breath as long as possible to make no noise.

Lance was crying. 

His eyes were heavily closed and thick tears slid on several streams between his fingers to his cheeks, the sobs that escaped his half open mouth and echoed on the walls were the only things they could hear in the room.  
Keith hesitated between saying something or turning around and retreating out of the room.

He stumbled on something he was not meant to see, whatever the reason why Lance was like this it was obvious that he did not want anyone to see him, but there he was standing dumfounded just a few meters from the other boy and breaking right into his privacy without knowing how to deal with the scene that passed right in front of his eyes. It was uncomfortable, he would rather have found the former blue paladin practicing some of his terrible pick-up lines as he did in the ship's showers when he thought nobody was listening to him, he would also rather have found him entertained in one of those silly videogames he shared with Pidge or maybe even asleep on his terrible coat, but not like that, he definitely did not want to find him on the ground with his face contracted and covered in tears, no matter how upsetting and annoying the attitude of the cargo pilot was he certainly didn’t want to see him hurt.

Keith turned around and walked slowly towards the door but when he was about to put his hand on the panel to get out he froze in place, he didn’t want to bother Lance but ... he did not want to leave him alone either, not when he was looking so vulnerable. Not knowing how to react and trapped in a flush of emotions that fluctuated between surprise, sympathy and pity, he leaned against the edge of the door and crossed his arms to think about what he should do.  
But no miraculous idea came to save him. He could only think of the stuff others might do in his place, Shiro would know exactly what to do (even if Keith had no idea what that was), Hunk on the other hand would probably hug his friend until he broke him in half, Pidge would distract him with some of their gadgets, Allura and Coran would talk to him as seriously as they could to find out what was troubling him, anyone else would be able to help Lance in this situation, anyone but Keith who only watched at the other paladin helplessly.

At some point Lance had stopped crying and sat up still breathing heavily, he looked through the window and placed one of his hands on top of it, outside the stars keep moving at and imperceptible speed, it was almost calming. The lights in the room had become even more opaque and were already very close to darkness, it had probably been between one and two hours since Keith arrival. 

Ahhh, it's enough ... My head hurts" Lance said aloud as he energetically rubbed his eyes with one hand and passed the other over his disheveled hair, even under the dim lighting anyone could see that his eyes were swollen from all the crying.  
Once Lance got up to get away from the window Keith panicked, he did not know how to react or what to do, he had been standing there for who knows how long without saying a word to his teammate and there was no way to explain his presence without it being uncomfortable for both of them.

Without thinking, he reflexively rolled toward one of the nearest desks and hid under it just in time before the other boy turned his head in his direction.

Perfect, now it would appear that he had been spying on Lance on purpose. He cursed himself under his breath.

Speaking of Lance something was off, he was taking too long to leave the room. Being careful not to be discovered Keith poked his head out of the desk to find out what was going on. The other paladin stopped in front of the door and it was then that Keith remembered that he had left the panel open after hacking the door, he had not bothered to block it again.

While Keith recriminated his carelessness the other boy pulled out his bayard and started walking around the room. Keith looked at the red bayard on Lance hands and thought about how unimpressive it looked when inactive and the enormous mistake his enemies made in letting themselves be fooled away by appearances. 

Is anyone here? - Lance asked once he finally stopped walking around the room and placed his Bayard on a table next to the desk where Keith was hiding.

He was so fucked up.

Keith could practically hear his heartbeat rising loudly inside him, he put a hand on top of his chest as if trying to cover up the noise. Lance was too close, his legs were practically in front of his face and Keith wondered if he could feel his breath over his armor. 

“Is there someone? Anyone? "Lance repeated the question, but now with a larger volume. It was as if he was giving him a chance to get out and confess everything. The other boy had probably already realized someone was there with him. 

But there was no response. 

Way too many thoughts were crossing Keith’s mind but they all agreed that he shouldn’t get out, his heart was beating loudly and rumbling in his ears, he was more nervous than when they did undercover missions, he had never been the stealthy type.  
“Of course there is nobody, only I Lancey Lance, me all by myself “Sighed the other paladin with disappointment sounding almost self-deprecating, then he finally left the room.

As he got surrounded by complete darkness Keith began to calm down, his legs were aching from the cramped position he had taken under the desk, still he waited several minutes before coming out. Once he decided it was safe to go back to his room he noticed something unsettling, Lance had turned off the lights before leaving but had not bothered to close the door or re-enter the password.

Had he really realized that there was someone else with him in the room? Did he know it was Keith? Or was it just an oversight? Thinking back on Lance´s insistence to ask if anyone was in the room there was no mistake, he had to know it. 

Shit.

Apparently Lance was way sharper than he appeared to be and Keith ought to give more credit to their sharpshooter.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m way too excited for season 5 and couldn’t stop thinking about Voltron so I ended up starting a fic, it’s my first one on this page so yeah I’m a bit nervous. (;_;)
> 
> English is my second language so there may have been some mistakes on the grammar and stuff, if you find any please let me know it will help me to improve my English as well to learn how to write better. 
> 
> In respect to Pidge gender I first opted to use female pronouns since those are the ones used in the series but at the same time I felt like I couldn’t restrict them to just one gender so I chose to mix it up a bit, sometimes I write her with female pronouns and sometimes with gender neutral ones.


End file.
